Thursday, May 1, 2008

Bosch Nexxt Front Load Washer's E:04 Error

UPDATE: My second Nexxt is still running strong since 2007. I've never had the e:04 on it after using about 1 tablespoon of detergent, maybe 2 for a big load. Clothes always come out clean; I even run my dry cleaning-only work clothes, and handwash-only outdoor gear through it. Never been a problem!

First, the error. Over the course of 4 years I've owned 2 Bosch Nexxt washing machines. The first one sold with our first house, and my wife and I loved the appliance enough to buy another one at our new house.

To me, that's saying a lot about an expensive major appliance. Now, that first machine wasn't without its trials, specifically a beeping E:04 error that became an almost certainty. I spent a lot of time looking online for an answer. I talked to the place we bought it. I even signed up for, and was approved for a technician's account on Bosch's appliance website hoping I would get access to more specific documentation.

I knew that E:04 was about the drain. A few weeks after we got the first unit the error appeared because one of my at-that-time infant daughter's socks had slipped between the drum and seal and made its way into the pump. The repair guy showed me how to open the pump housing and empty the trap (more on this in a sec).

After almost 2 years of a lot of use, we started getting the error more and more. I got pretty good at getting into that pump unit. To make sure that nothing was clogging the drain line I took the machine apart and visually inspected every hose and valve to make sure there wasn't a physical obstruction. Since the impeller is driven magnetically, there's no chance that a belt was slipping or damaged.

Everything I read, and what the shop kept telling me, was that a soapy film had built up on the impeller, and that I needed to start using fabric softener to dissolve the film. So we did, to not much avail. I opened the pump (again) and scrubbed the impeller with an old toothbrush. No difference. I even ordered a new pump that I was going to put in, though while I waited for the special-ordered part to arrive, I figured it out. If I ran an empty cycle on hot with only fabric softener, and then flipped the cycle switch to drain, I could, in the span of a few minutes, run several gallons of hot water and fabric softener through the impeller. It worked. Not the first time, not the second time, not the third time. Though after the first batch of this I noticed a difference; the E:04 error stayed away for a week or so, then then next time it appeared and I did 3 hot water->drain cycles it stayed good for a couple weeks. By the time we sold the house, the error was gone, though I gave the new owners the pump and a 1 year warranty on the appliance. It's almost been a year, and no phone call ;)

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

The best written, most helpful E04 error fix I have been able to find.
Thank You.

Anonymous said...

We did a version of this, and it worked. We just ran "Drum Sanitize" three times (empty, no detergent, and a machine that was giving e27 and e04 error codes for months now works perfectly. Our appliance company (who sold us the washer 4 years ago)charged us $400 to replace the door latch and the control panel. Apparently that was useless, and this is the answer. Sir, you are a genius.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. This information was just the trick. Glad you posted it for us fellow E04ers. Much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post. the machine in question is a bosch nexxt 500 series. have had it for 7 1/2 years and this E04 code is the first issue other than changing the door gasket. i first cleaned out the pump trap, as most other links suggested. my machine wasn't nearly as crudded up as the other people's for whom that solution worked. it wasn't enough to make a difference. after two cycles of hot water and fabric softener, the pump motor was trying to work. i kept draining manually and running new hot water and banging on the pump housing to jar the impeller back into operation. after just a few cycles of this, it picked up on it's own. i ran a few complete fill/drain cycles and then a few more with just hot water. i am on my second load and it's working great. i never use hot water and rarely use fabric softener. i will now make a routine of running some hot water through it to flush the residue every several loads. i just got the error yesterday, and with enough research, i got it fixed today. the internet is a wonderful thing, as are people who are willing to share their experiences. good on you!

Robert Merrill
New Mexico

Kevin said...

So I had no idea folks were finding this site and commenting until today when I was searching my email for an appliance website. Wow! It's great to be helping people out :) My washing machine is still going strong; I've been dealing with a lot of e:02 errors, which is clogged water inlet. Last summer a mouse made a nest under my well cover and much of it fell into the water, and is still a year later making its way through the water lines to faucet screens, and the filter screens on both water heater and washing machine. At least this one's A LOT easier to deal with than the pump. And I can say that even after 7 or so years, this machine is going strong with nary an e:04! Sweet :)

Anonymous said...

Just thought I too would leave a thank-you note on this tip about fixing the E:04 error message. Thanks for the help.

John Brunski, Arizona

Unknown said...

I'm trying this method now. After almost 9 years I'm getting this error. Mine though does drain but not completely and seems a bit slow.

Unknown said...

Update: Beware of washing dog toys filled with batten. It cause a clog in the drain pipe coming off just under the drum.
Remedy: unclamped the hose from the trap. Hooked the dyson up to the hose and used a wire hanger to act as a snake and went thru one of the holes in the drum into the clog. Started working on the clog from the top end while the dyson worked on sucking it out from the bottom end. Clog removed after a few minutes and washer works as good as new.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to thank you. You saved me a lot of grief.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the information. I guess I will be taking mine apart after my husband goes to work this morning!!

Anonymous said...

I had the E-04 error on our Bosch Nexxt 500 and I removed the filter and removed some caked on laundry soap put it back together and it worked fine for 2 months and repeated the process, worked fine for a month and it happened again. I took it apart twice in one day and wet vacuumed the water out and tried the hot wash cycle with fabric softener 3 times like mentioned in an earlier post. I'm ready to pitch this POS and never purchase another Bosch product ever again!

Anonymous said...

I've owned the bosch next 500 series for 9 years. had the E-04 error code problem several times. I would also remove the corrugated drain hose and clean. Mine had quite a bit of crud build up. I flex it and stretched slightly and ran hot water through it while doing so. I then held to the end of my garden hose and ran full force and more crud came out. more than I would have thought. After putting back together I could tell that more water was draining than before. We did a couple of loads no problem. Once again e-04. I ordered a new pump but wouldn't get it for 3 days so I removed the pump and opened it up (they recommend not doing so). The cylinder type area behind the pump impeller was loaded up with black gunk that I cleaned out with a paper towel. put it back together not thinking it was going to work. It ended up working for the past year. I returned new pump 2 months ago. I think this time I need a New Pump. The only problem I"ve had with this washer.

Anonymous said...

I found the black drain unit behind the little white round door on the bottom front of the washer but could not get the cap off, even after water drained out of it. How do I remove the cap? I'd like to check this spot as well as the drain hoses before I use the fabric softener process.
Thanks for the various suggestions. I get the e4 message regularly and have to manually drain and spin the load.

Lor said...

YES!!!! Worked for me too! Thank you so much for posting this information!

Anonymous said...

This page was very helpful to me, too! The problem for me ended up not being the drain trap or the drain but the drain hose that runs from the exterior drum down to the trap. I first cleaned out the drain trap and the front of the drain impeller, and ran cycles of hot water as the original post suggested. Still getting the E04 error. Then, I removed the back panel of the washer, and I was able to access the hose that runs down to the drain trap and disconnect the top end (where it attaches to the exterior drum with a metal ring tightened with a screw). There is a ball inside this tube that acts like a valve. I cleaned out the gunk that had built up around the ball with a rag, then reattached the hose. After running a few hot cycles, I stopped getting the E04 error code! Saved me over $100 on a service call!

Chandran C said...

Thanks for the post. Blogs like these are very useful for people who are into home appliance service. Our washing machine service centers has benefited from this post. Thanks.

Raj Kumar said...

Very informative post. Posts like these are very useful and particularly for people who are running washing machine service center. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I have just recently started getting the E04 on my Bosch Nexxt washer. I have cleared out a stick, piece of metal, and a few collar stays from the front trap. Note: although people said to rotate the white circular cover clockwise, mine went the opposite direction. Once that is removed the black cover is removed counter-clockwise. Still getting E04. Tonight I will take off the drain hose that goes into my laundry tub and clean that out. If that doesn't work I will pull the back panel off and get in deeper.

Anonymous said...

I just blew on the drain hose, heard some bubbles, and that cleared it. Washer ran fine fine after that.

Unknown said...

I only get E:04 on a full load of towels. It also appeRs that the load does not properly rinse and septic odor is present when pumping our. I also noticed the fabric softener remains in the dispenser. The machine has always tried to walk out of the laundry room while spinning but having to wash a load 3 tines is getting old. I am just about ready to buy an old fashion top loader.

Anonymous said...

great article and contributions everybody - got E04 up today and the Bosch codes state its a door lock issue - non-sense. Our washer is 12 years old now and has a bad smell associated with it for a while now - laundry was not fresh as it should have been. So I took apart the internals (youtube videos) and cleared lots of gunge with bleach (v effective) however I was aware that the gunge would mainly be between the drum and the plastic tub - so - all or nothing - put it to a hot wash and then used an entire bottle of bleach - fed it in at the soap dispenser, where washing powder/liquid goes at the start of the cycle - holy caumole - freed up massive amounts of gunge, fumes were bad and the liberated soap suds needed knocked down with water and many drain cycles but at the end of the process the machine is functioning great and smells fantastic too..... tip - use a few sacrificial towels to ensure machine works correctly - they also serve as a 'sponge' for liberated soap -at the end of the process remove them from the machine and hand rinse the towels in the sink to get rid of the soap.

Anonymous said...

BTW - the reason for the gunge build up is a combination of the following:
- low temp washes
- liquid detergent
- non-bio detergent
- HE machines (less water)

Anonymous said...

The comments on this post have been really helpful! Followed instructions elsewhere to open the trap. There was pretty nothing there to clean out. Ran the machine on the entire "xxtra sanitary" cycle without putting anything in the machine: no clothes, no fabric softener, nothing. As the cycle was running could see lots of suds in the water. Even though we are always careful with the amount and type of detergent, over the years there must have been an accumulated film of detergent residue. Ran the whole cycle (be patient, takes close to two hours) again on an empty machine and still got suds although not as many. After the 3 cycle, no suds. Machine seems to be working now. If you don't have the xxtra sanitary setting, just use the hottest water setting it will allow.

Anonymous said...

My symptoms were intermittent pump failure. A humming sound was heard as the pump was trying to spin. Shaking the pump got it to work.
I removed the pump from the washer. No impediments were found, just a small amount of soap scum. I removed the pump from the plastic drain basin by depressing 2 tabs on the top and twisting it off. I carefully prayed out the impeller and magnet with a flat blade screwdriver. Inside the housing was loaded with scum. The magnet was totally covered, which was the reason for the intermittent spinning. After rinsing it out, scrubbing with a toothbrush, and a few squats of brake cleaner, it was reassembled. It now runs fine.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I've tried so many things over the years, but nothing worked this time, but I found our machine was not drawing in any HOT water - another problem I need to fix, but in the meantime, I switched the hot and cold and am now running several Hot Cycles and it is WORKING!!! I can't believe how many suds I am getting with each cycle and NO soap! I did add softener the first time and bleach the next few times - now just suds, suds, suds. It must be cleaned out something! And maybe a guest of ours used too much soap :( That has shut our machine down, too.